Fun In The Sun Baytown Texas

My bride and I loaded up my awesome 2011 Cosmos Blue Jeep JKU Sport and our doggies for a day of adventure and headed east on I-10 for Anahuac, Texas - which spell check identified as Nahuatl, which I suspect was the original language over there.  I know it is in Channelview.  We stopped at the entrance to the Wallisville Lake Project to grab a geocache (GC36NMH), but it was in pieces.  I logged it as a find and alerted the cache owners, TxDwight and TxJoAnn56.

We briefly perused the fruit stand at I-10 and FM563, but decided we would buy from the other stand at High Island, later in the day.  We decided to make another stop at the Jackson Cemetery in Anahuac, as there is a geocache there also, called "Thriller" (GC33KBD). 

My bride is a descendant of the Barbers and the Barrows and we found a goodly number of gravestones of a branch of the Barrow family.

While I searched for the tiny geocache we let the dogs explore and my bride looked for kin folk's grave stones.  If you are interested in learning about geocaching, the Baytown area has over 300 "caches" hidden and the number is growing every day.  It's a wonderful family and kid-friendly activity and will take you to obscure parks, cemetery's and generally get a person off the couch.

A branch of the Barrow Family are buried at the Jackson Cemetery in Anahuac, Texas

When we returned home, I went on the Internet to ancestry.com and could not link these folks with my wife's side of the family.  She is a direct descendant of Daniel Barrow and Ruby Amanda Barber and not this line. I photographed the headstones and submitted the pictures on findagrave.com for those who research this kind of stuff.  Its actually very popular and my brother TJ Bustem and sister Connie Byrd are heavily involved.

I call my Jeep Wrangler "tha Choppa" as it takes me anywhere I want to go, like a helicopter. "Get to the Choppa!"

We headed for a hike and a drive through the Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge to see if we could see some gators, but it was already very hot and we were unsuccessful. If you want to see wildlife, I advise going 60 miles south to Brazos Bend State Park instead.

At the Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge, we walked the boardwalk.

The last time I was down on this beach and what is left of SH-87, was about 10 years ago with the Baytown Chapter of the TX4X4 Cyber Club, now defunct, with the Boyd brothers, Bruce and Marshal.  Bruce was the President of our chapter and was tragically killed in a motorcycle accident on SH-146 in late 2003.  I haven't seen Marshal in a long time, although I talked to Bruce's wife the other day.  We led a group of over 120 Jeeps and 4-wheel drive trucks to Sabine Pass over the destroyed road.  The man at the fruit stand remembered the event.  I turned leadership of the whole club, which I founded, over to someone else and it is now called TX4WD.

The 25 mile stretch of road-beach between High Island and Sabine Pass.

The tide was in, along with a heavy stinky kelp deposit, which ran for miles.  The coastline is replete with trash and plastic and looks terrible, but this stretch of the coastline has never been pretty to me and others.  Hurricane Ike rearranged it considerably and the state has cut an alternate path inland, which due to the debris and oil-laden sand on the coast, forced us up onto it.  It's still very much a 4-wheel drive trail though, so beware if you think you can do it in your Zephyr.  We had a Chevy truck follow us for about 4 slow miles before they finally decided it was too risky and turned back.  Charles Goss and I rescued a man and his truck here one time who had been stuck for 18 hours.

Just for fun I drove up on a fallen log.

If I was going to "wheel" this beach, I would have aired my tires down and disconnected my sway-bars, but we were the Lone Ranger out here and it is never a good idea to wheel alone.  There are still plenty of obstacles, logs, giant chunks of asphalt, boggy quicksand, and debris to "crawl" over though - just don't do it alone.  My next beach run will be down south to Matagorda and 30 miles of pretty danged good beach.  The best though are North and South Padre Island.  I call this stretch of beach we are on, HISP.  High Island to Sabine Pass and it is pretty much boring and ugly, but in Texas, where most everything is private property, a person has to go to what is available if they want to test their machines against the terrain.

WL Jenkins Park Wish List

WL Jenkins Park - The Bark Park - Skate Park - JC Holloway Park

One of my favorite things to do is walk with my bride and doggies in WL Jenkins Park and the Bark Park.  It's a wonderful place and is used heavily by people exercising, walking their dogs, and running.  I sent this request list to the Parks Superintendent, Scott Johnson this morning:

1.  Probably 5 times a week, my wife and I walk on the trails in Jenkins Park.  Often we carry trash a long ways before we can deposit it in one of the trash cans.  Would the city consider placing a few cans on the trail in the interior of the park along the trail connecting the two parks (JC Hollaway Park)?  I think more people would help keep the park clean if there are more cans.

A speckled King Snake crawls across the trail.  It is harmless.

2. One of the pine trees inside the small dog park needs back-fill around the roots, or the tree will probably die.  There may be others, especially since so many new trees have been planted.


3.  There are large number of cigarette butts, and small debris on the trail behind the skate park, making it look trashy.

Here are the fast results!

4.  The old water fountain stub-out by the bathroom is a tripping/knee gouge hazard.

The stub-out which needs attention.

David Lee at WL Jenkins Park

While we were there, we ran into a friend, the honorable David Lee!  David ran unsuccessfully for City Councilman, but he would be a good one.  We had a real good visit talking about the city and the future expansion of Baker Road and the effect it would have on Crockett Park.
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Fresh Catfish & Panko!

Big FAT fresh catfish fillets and Panko you ask?  Why yes...  Geeze!  Throw in coconut oil, parsley, Tony Chachere's, salt, and cilantro and what have you got?  Something delicious I tell you.  I browned the fillets in a skillet and then finished them off at 500 degrees in the broiler.  The second secret to success is the tarter sauce.  In my experience, nothing can top Louisiana Tarter Sauce! Now for the proof!

Baytown Texas Annual Water Report 2011

I've been saying it so long I sound like a broken record.  I like Baytown water so much... I had it piped up to my house.  The stuff is delicious!  If you want to bump it up a notch, filter it yourself, but don't think because you buy water in 24-pack plastic bottles that you are getting something special.  Read it for yourself.

Baytown gets a bum rap all the way around is so many ways and usually it is undeserved.   Concerning our water...?   It just don't float.

MIO - the Real Story is Propylene Glycol

My bride and I were asked today if we had tried MIO, the new sweet drink energy enhancer. I did some research on it. I don't think we will add it to our shopping list.

 The reason is propylene glycol.  Propylene glycol, also called 1,2-propanediol or propane-1,2-diol, is an organic compound (a diol or double alcohol) with formula C₃H₈O₂ or HO-CH₂-CHOH-CH₃. It is a colorless, nearly odorless, clear, viscous liquid with a faintly sweet taste, hygroscopic and miscible with water, acetone, and chloroform.

 Propylene glycol is used:

• As an ingredient in the oil dispersant Corexit, used in great quantities during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill
• To deice aircraft wings and empennage
• As a solvent in many pharmaceuticals, including oral, injectable and topical formulations (notably, diazepam, which is insoluble in water, uses propylene glycol as its solvent in its clinical, injectable form)
• As a humectant food additive, labeled as E number E1520
• As an emulsification agent in Angostura and orange bitters
• As a moisturizer in medicines, cosmetics, food, toothpaste, shampoo, mouth wash, hair care and tobacco products
• As a carrier in fragrance oil
• To produce polyester compounds
• As a base in deicing solution
• As an ingredient in massage oils
• In hand sanitizers, antibacterial lotions, and saline solutions
• In smoke machines to make artificial smoke for use in firefighters' training and theatrical productions
• In electronic cigarettes, as a vaporizable base for diluting the nicotine liquid
• As a solvent for food colors and flavorings
• As an ingredient, along with wax and gelatin, in the production of paintballs
• As a moisture stabilizer (humectant) for snus (Swedish style snuff)
• As a cooling agent for beer and wine glycol jacketed fermentation tanks
• As a nontoxic antifreeze for winterizing drinking water systems (for example recreational vehicles), and in applications where the used antifreeze eventually will be drained into the soil, water, or a septic system
• As a less-toxic antifreeze in solar water heating systems
• As a solvent used in mixing photographic chemicals, such as film developers
• In cryonics
• As a working fluid in hydraulic presses
• As a coolant in liquid cooling systems
• To regulate humidity in a cigar humidor
• As the killing and preserving agent in pitfall traps, usually used to capture ground beetles
• As an additive to pipe tobacco to prevent dehydration
• To treat livestock ketosis
• As the main ingredient in deodorant sticks
• As an ingredient in UV or blacklight tattoo ink
• As a lubricant in air conditioning compressors
• As a wetting agent, used to determine drying time in paints and coatings
• Used in the beverage mixer Sweet N Sour.

Propylene glycol has properties similar to those of highly toxic ethylene glycol (monoethylene glycol or MEG). (Note: infrequently, propylene glycol may also use the acronym MEG, but as an abbreviation of methyl ethyl glycol - the industry standard acronym for propylene glycol is PG or MPG (monopropylene glycol).) The industrial norm is to replace ethylene glycol with propylene glycol when safer properties are desired.  Source: Wikipedia

Frankly, I will pass on voluntarily putting this in my body....

Baytown Remembers Fallen Texas Heroes 2012

Baytown Remembers Fallen Texas Heroes Click the link to see the slideshow of photographs from the giant fund raiser on Texas avenue for the Portrait of a Warrior gallery, on May 19, 2012. It is going to be a yearly event and was attended by many of hundreds of people, including Major General Jimmie J. Wells.

At least 5 photographers submitted photographs for the slide show and many are part of the wonderful group from the Baytown Photo Club. I am especially grateful to Ren Fitts for the use of his photographs and his constant vigil over veteran's rights,

Also in attendance were Mayor Stephen DonCarlos, City Manager Bob Lieper, State Representative Wayne Smith, Military recruiters, pencil artist Jim McDonnel,Sammy Mahan, Organizer extraordinaire Joni Kelton, Kevin Troller, Justice of the Peace Don Coffey, Professor John Britt, Conrad Garcia Jr., Liz Caldwell, Jane Lee, Elke Meyers, Byrd Reed, Deb Robinson, Janet Albright, Gary Erwin, Richard Hardy, LOST Inc, and of course, Ken "the Dauber Pridgeon.

Ken is painting each and every fallen warrior from Texas who died as a result of Operation Iraqi Freedom and the war in Afghanistan.

Many of us were brought to tears listening to Jimmy Smith, father of Jeremy Smith talk about his fallen son and how Ken's artwork has allowed him to deal with it.

Texas Avenue is rapidly becoming the go-to place in Baytown for venues such as this one and I am sure time will prove the renovation costs have been well spent. I talked in length with city councilman Scott Sheley concerning this and he assures me it is a very big positive for Baytown. Many people were personaly involved in making this happen, but I think it would only be fair to throw a big high-5 to Joni Kelton for her part as the MC.  If you don't know that name, you will.  She like Ken and so many others are what make Baytown, Baytown.
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Pedernales Falls State Park - OR Bust!

All great adventures begin with an adventure.  Did I write that?  My adventure started a few days before we left to go to Pedernales Falls State Park when my geocaching buddy, Aaron Barbee gave me a utility trailer.  He told me it needed TLC and it did.  I love this trailer.  I poured my sweat into it to get it ready to haul camping gear and firewood 225 miles to the campsite close to Johnson City, Texas.

The Trailer

I added $200 worth of new tires, straps, and wheel bearings to make sure it would handle the trip. Always keep an eye out for auto parts store coupons; they come in handy.  I was so excited to leave, I forgot my tent and 2 containers of camping equipment.  When we camp, it is as if we are the Dugger family, taking anything we might possibly need and more.  I blame the small amount of Boy Scout training I had for this behavior.

I pride myself on making few mistakes and to say I made a few mistakes on this trip would be a bald-faced lie.  The trip was one mistake on my part after another.  I was determined to relax and I must have taken a brain-relaxer, because it was as if I was back in 9th grade algebra - I was dumber than a box of rocks.

Being the guy that I am, I stopped about every 30 minutes and checked the trailer load and wheel bearing temperature.  The drivers side was getting warm, but nothing serious.  The 4th time I checked it was in Bastrop and we stopped and ate a bite at the Dairy Queen there.  After we were done, the bearings seemed cool, so off we went… and then my bride got a phone call from my son-in-law informing me that while picking-up our doggies, he discovered our left-behind equipment.

My Bride loves me even though I am a bit of an oaf at times.

"That's it.  We have to turn back."  I stated.

"But we are 200 miles from the house!"

"I know, but we can't camp without what is in those two boxes."  I exclaimed, feeling failure wash over me.

"Well, if we drive all the way back, I am not going to camp."  My bride said, voicing my disappointed sentiment.

Ready to roll?  Yikes!

So, I wheeled the trailer and Jeep around and pulled into a Valero gas station to top off my tank.  That is when I noticed the drivers side wheel was about 10 minutes from falling off.  The bearings were completely gone and the wheel was wobbling.

"Aye Curumba!"  I yelled out in a vile torrent of butchered Baytownian Anglo Tex-Mex!

"If we would not have stopped when we did…"  I said and we both thanked the God we serve for the phone call.  All I can figure is it is divine providence that I left the supplies, or I could have lost that tire at 60 mph.

Bastrop Auto Works

I drove slowly back east on SH-71 and seeing a garage, I pulled into Bastrop Auto Works - Foreign and Domestic Specialists and met the nicest guy named Rene Rizk, who is the owner/manager.

"If you can drop the trailer Mr. Marshall, I'll have it ready for you in the morning and it will handle like new - I promise," were his exact words or something like that.

So, off to Wimberley my bride and I head.  Wimberley, Texas to my bride is like going to heaven.  I did not do everything wrong my friend.  We chummed around town and finally got a room at the excellent Square Inn, right on the square.  It is a real nice place ran by a single mom of triplet teenage boys. I highly recommend it.

Square Inn, Wimberley, Texas

The next morning, we made our drive back to Bastrop and Rene's son took our denaro, as Rene was fishing for Spec's and Red's in the Gulf this fine morning.  Hitching up the "like new" trailer, off we went for our camping trip and true to his word, the trailer performed like it was supposed to.

Arriving at Pedernales Falls State park, we learned I had lost my $20 deposit and had to pay the full price, since I didn't give the State of Texas a 72 hour notice I was going to have a bad trailer spindle.  Oh, well, just pass it off as another minor inconvenience and move on down the campsite.  Number 64.  The Ranger whispered it was highly coveted and a few days later, a woman asked when we were leaving, as they wanted our spot.  I felt pretty smug after that.

Camp site 64!

We had almost everything set up before my daughter and son-in-law came rolling in with the tent and our missing containers of camping gear - and our 4 little doggies!  Oh joy!  What a fantastic rescue they put on for us!  We cooked food on the campfire and swam in the Pedernales River over the next two days.  While in camp, we listened to my DVD's of the Cornell Hurd Band, Hank Williams, James Harmin, Wayne Hancock, and Bert Wills.  It just didn't seem right not to listen to Country and Blues music around the campfire.

Baytown Bert  AKA Pedernales Bert

My bride and I camped the last two nights by ourselves and even made a mandatory trip over to Marble Falls to eat at the Blue Bonnet Cafe - an absolute must and thanks to my friend Buddy Casto, we even made a trip over to see the Castle Avalon on the mountain.  By the way, it was 100 degrees outside and it is April for crying out loud!

100 degrees in April?

In the Park we saw deer, turkey, 3 short-nosed gar - hiked the 4-mile Loop trail, did a bit of geocaching, cycled, cooked meat on a stick over a campfire, and had a wonderful time.  An amazing sight was looking up through the netting on the tent at night at the millions of stars - after taking a good warm shower in the clean Park bathrooms of course!

Beautiful Pedernales Falls State
Park

I don't want to conclude without mentioning that I left my cell phone charger and had to nurse my usage carefully - but remembered to bring 3 cameras.  I warned everyone repeatedly about the raccoons at nighttime and then I left a case open and the rascals destroyed a bit of foodstuffs including coffee and grape jelly.  I clumsily stubbed my great toe in the shower. I brought 4 pair of binoculars, which we didn't use, but forgot the tent.  Then on the way home, my Jeep caught a rock in the windshield.

I did however percolate French Market coffee with chicory over the fire in my Dr. Strangelove coffee cup and by golly it was American and delicious!

Drinking chicory coffee out of my Dr. Strangelove cup seemed fitting!

New Trees Planted In Jenkins Park!

It is no secret last year's drought killed a lot of trees in Baytown.  Fortunately, we didn't lose 1800 homes to fire, like what happened to the good folks in Bastrop.  After the city decided for safeties sake to cut down a number of trees in my favorite park, I appealed to Mayor DonCarlos and Parks Superintendant Scott Johnson to find out what we could do to re-foliate the park. 

We went for a walk in the park today and came across this little fellar on one of the trails.  The trees appear to be live Oaks, Elm, Pine, and a couple more.  I love this park and from the look of activity around us, a lot of other people do too.  My hat is off to the Mayor and the Parks Super for the great job they did and are doing!

 Mayor DonCarlos approached Exxon-Mobil and they generously donated $5000 for new trees!  He contacted me to help round up some folks and with anticipated enthusiasm - I went off camping!  Literally and I didn't get back in town until all the planting was over!  With dead cell phone and battery in hand, I did what I could to let them know the second I got back, the error of my ways.

Both fine Baytownian civil servants were gracious enough to forgive me, as I had my lovely bride on vacation and afterall, her happiness is paramount to my comings and goings.  So, to show proof I was actually not out goofing off, here we are enjoying Pedernales Falls State Park.

The Baytown Photo Club is Trashy!

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Yes, the Baytown Photo Club is trashy and they are proud of it.  Every quarter, they gather behind DeZavala Elementary school to begin picking up trash on Tri-Cities Beach Road.  Whenever I can, I join them and do my share.  Today we picked about 15-20 bags of garbage, plus all kinds of other stuff and a few unmentionables - as always.

Super Stop in Baytown May Be Over-Charging!

Has anyone else suspected or noticed the older Middle Eastern fellow who man's the counter at the Super Stop SHELL gas station at N. Main & E. Cedar Bayou Lynchburg Road punches the keyboard on the register instead of scanning the item and will "accidentally" over-charge?

I've called the guy out on it twice and I won't go in the store now. Try it yourself. Know the cost of an item or two or three, figure the taxes and watch to see if you are being scalped.

Do it routinely at any convenience store by the way. If they do not scan your items, it is a sign they might be doing fancy math in their favor.

 It's not just me.  Here is what other people are saying about the place:

 - Yes, price diff everyday..I quit going too.. sad part is how many people go there and totally unaware.... makes u want to put up signs... wonder if BBB would work? Nah:.. he's making too much to care.

-This guy also been know to run "8 liners" in the back of the store also.

-Most do this that I have come across. I've tried to stick to Exxon stations for this reason. They have consistently been stable on prices and they scan everything plus there prices are usually cheaper especially on tobacco products.

-Call the comptrollers office. Sounds like a case of tax fraud. They WILL investigate. They probably have a way you can report anonymously. They will go in, hang out and watch them to catch them not ringing the products properly.

-Especially the ones that have separate registers for cash and credit

-I have noticed it going on there for several years now. You definitely have to watch him IF you go in that station. I usually try not to go there because of this reason.

-I called the guy on it one night and the next time I came in he did it again. I walked out without paying the second time. I don't go back.

-Hate that store !! Prices are never consistent and they always overcharge on everything !

-Hillboys Chevron on 146 does the same thing as well as steal from the cars stopping through.

The Amazing 4G Androd Smiffle!

Has anyone else noticed how short many people's attention span is due to them pulling out an electronic "communication device" and staring at the screen.They're becoming brain dead.

It doesn't matter if you are trying to explain or “conversating” that flesh-eating organisms are imminent and in fact on their very leg . They will never hear you, or return to the conversation when they finally look up... If they look up. I think this is dependent on battery life of said electronic communicator, all of which have catchy Brand names people can’t resist bragging about.

If they email you from their “smart” phone, you even get an advertisement letting you, the email user, know what kind of device the brilliant sender is using. For example”

“Sent by the incredible 4-G Android 4G Smiffle by Verizon are always available for shoes. in brilliant 4G!!!”

As long as that 3-D Liquid Crystal Diode 2.5 inch screen is anywhere within reach, a normal conversation is all but impossible - well, it is impossible, unless that is, you can text this person. Then you will have instant access to them, as this is a social devise, designed to help everyone communicate.

Get four of these folks in a room and it is totally silent as they connect with each other on a "social network."

“Ha ha haaaar! That stupid idiot only has 3G!” My fellow co-worker said to anyone listening (I was the only one in the room who didn’t have my attention on a device, but before I could reply, he was gone again. “I pity the fool!” I thought I would exclaim and I did, but it fell on deaf ears, as I didn’t text it.

Whatever happened to simple con-ver-sat-tin? Heckfire, whatever happened to conversing?

A Mountain Lion in Baytown, Texas?

A cougar, commonly called a puma, panther, catamount, or a long-tailed cat.

Rumors of a large mountain lion-like cat in Harris or Chambers County, Texas surface every so often with many credible eyewitnesses, including my wife and one of her best friends.  Two friends of mine swear to the fact that they are here.  Some call them panthers, others know them as pumas, or long-tailed cats.

Where the big animal was spotted walking behind the houses on El Rancho in Chaparral Village, Baytown, Texas.

Behind my house are over 70 acres of woods and yesterday, my wife and her long time friend were sitting on the patio when they spied a large, tawny colored animal "walking like a cat" on the pipeline behind the house.  "It was as big as a dog and had a tail."  My wife told me and her friend concurred.

"The dogs were on the far side of the yard and didn't sense or see it and we jumped up and ran for the back fence.  It disappeared into the woods without a sound."  My wife explained. 

Another view of the pipeline lane behind Buffalo Trail in Baytown, Texas.

My longtime friend Barbara Pugh has seen them many times, as she grew up around Baytown and Beach City and swears locals there know they are here.  It was not all that long ago that reports of big cats were again sighted out by the dump.  I saw a bobcat there a few years ago and my brother saw a bobcat run across Barkuloo Road in between Chaparral Village and Crockett Elementary. 

A Bobcat like this one was spotted crossing Barkuloo Road close to Crockett Elementary and Chaparral Village by my brother.

This is the same stretch of woods where the pipeline is that may or may not harbor a "long-tailed cat."  We often hear a large pack of coyotes yipping and howling when a train blows it's horn, but they are elusive and I've never actually saw one behind the house.  It just goes to show that large animals can coexist with us and we don't know they are around.  Coyotes also can and will kill a pet, as will feral hogs.

Feral hogs and coyotes both frequent the woods behind Chaparral Village, but are rarely seen.

I know one fact that no one can dispute and is possibly connected with the big cat sighting.  Not a week goes by without someone placing signs to report a missing dog in Chaparral Village.  Occasionally one is found, but most often, the pet is never seen again.  We lost one like this here about 15 years ago.  It ran into the woods and vanished without a sign.

Signs are common in Chaparral Village of lost pets.  This one was taken the same day as this article was published.

We have seen and heard feral hogs on the pipeline and I once saw a great horned owl perched on the wire behind my house.  My dogs will stand by my back fence at night and bark and bark, facing the woods and I often take a powerful flashlight and scan about, but never see anything except rabbits.

I have not seen a rabbit in two months.  Do we have a long-tailed cat out there?  I have not seen one, but others have.  I plan to place a game camera out very soon and see if I can't get a photo or two of what our intrepid visitor looks like.  In the meantime, we watch.

Airplanes/Gone With The Wind - Levi McAllister